1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mixer, and more particularly, to a multi-phase mixer and methods for using same.
2. Background of the Related Art
Presently, a radio frequency (RF) communications system has a variety of applications including PCS communication and IMT systems. As such, a CMOS chip integration of the system has been pursued to reduce the cost, size and power consumption.
Generally, the RF communication system is composed of RF front-end block and base-band digital signal processing (DSP) block. Currently, the base-band DSP block can be implemented with low cost and low power CMOS technology. However, the RF front-end cannot be implemented by CMOS technology due to fundamental limits in speed and noise characteristics, which are below the speed and noise specification of popular RF communication systems.
For example, the PCS hand-phone system operate at a frequency over 2.0 GHz, but current CMOS technology can support reliably operation only up to a frequency of 1.0 GHz in terms of speed and noise. Hence, the RF front-end block is implemented using bipolar or bi-CMOS technology that has better speed and noise characteristics than CMOS technology, but is more expensive and consumes more power.
One of the main causes for the 1 GHz limitation is the structure of the VCO and the mixer. FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram of the VCO-mixer according to a background art. As shown in FIG. 1, the VCO 10 includes four differential delay cells 12, 14, 16 and 18 and has a structure similar to a ring oscillator. The four delay cells 12-18 are serially connected and generate a clock signal LO+ and an inverted clock signal LO-, each having a frequency of f.sub.0. A control circuit for the VCO 10 that generates a frequency control signal includes a phase frequency detector 4, a charge pump 6 and a loop filter 8 that outputs the frequency control signal to each of the delay cells 12-18. The phase frequency detector 4 receives a reference clock signal f.sub.ref and a VCO clock signal f.sub.VCO from a reference clock divider circuit 2 and a VCO clock divider circuit 3, respectively. The frequency f.sub.0 of the clock signals LO+ and LO- is represented by M/K (f.sub.ref)=f.sub.0. Thus, the frequency f.sub.0 is based on the reference clock signal f.sub.ref and the divider circuits 2 and 3.
The mixer 20, such as Gilbert--Multiplier, multiplies the input signals, such as radio frequency (RF) signals RF+ and RF-, with the clock signals LO+ and LO-. The mixer 20 includes two load resistors R1 and R2 coupled to a source voltage V.sub.DD, eight NMOS transistors 21-28, and a current source I.sub.S1. The gates of the NMOS transistors 21 and 22 are coupled to receive the clock signal LO+, and the gates of the NMOS transistors 23 and 24 are coupled to receive the inverted clock signal LO-. The gates of the NMOS transistors 25 and 26 receive a common bias voltage V.sub.Bias. The gates of the NMOS transistors 27 and 28 receive the RF signals RF+ and RF-, respectively. Therefore, the clock signals LO+ and LO- are multiplied with the RF signals RF+ and RF- only when the transistors 25 and 27 or the transistors 26 and 28 are turned on together. The output signals OUT+ and OUT- of the mixer 20 has a frequency lower than its original frequency by the frequency f.sub.0 of the clock signals LO+, LO-.
As discussed above, a wide frequency range and a low phase noise are desirable for various applications. However, the VCO-mixer structure 10 and 20 can only support up to a frequency 1 GHz with reliable phase noise and frequency range. The performance of the VCO-mixer structure 10 and 20 becomes worse in terms of phase noise and frequency range and is unacceptable as the frequency of the clock signals LO+ and LO- from the VCO increases. Hence, the VCO 10 and the mixer 20 cannot be readily implemented when the frequency f.sub.0 of the clock signals LO+ and LO- is over 1 GHz.
The above references are incorporated by reference herein where appropriate for appropriate teachings of additional or alternative details, features and/or technical background.